Japan Denies Vote-Buying, But Vote-Sellers Say Yes

The growing scandal about Japan's blatant vote-buying at the International
Whaling Commission has touched a raw nerve in Tokyo. The Japanese government
is now issuing forceful denials and demanding that the IWC censure conservation
groups and their publications for reporting on Japan's aid-for-votes strategy.

But more than a dozen impoverished nations, desperate for foreign aid,
have eagerly jumped on the pro-whaling bandwagon in the last 15 years, accepting
tens of millions of dollars in "fisheries aid" from Japan in return.

On Tuesday, ECO documented Japan's "vote consolidation" strategy
by quoting Japanese officials' statements going back as far as 1987. Today,
ECO documents Japan's vote-buying from the vote-sellers' perspective, quoting
officials from the small, vulnerable nations that have sold their IWC votes
for Japanese aid.

Lester Bird, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, stated in a news
interview in 2001 regarding his nation's pro-whaling votes at the IWC: "Quite
frankly, I make no bones about itif we are able to support the Japanese
and the quid pro quo is that they are going to give us assistance, I am not
going to be a hypocrite; that is part of why we do so."

Later in 2001, the official newsletter of the Antigua and Barbuda government
published an article entitled "Antigua Government Getting Returns." It
cited a US $17 million fisheries grant from Japan as having come "as
a direct result of its pro-whaling stance." Planning Minister Gaston
Browne, when asked if Antigua's vote at the IWC was a factor in the grant,
stated that, "If we were to antagonize them, I imagine that they would
not be so anxious to assist us."

Also in 2001, St. Kitts and Nevis declared its obedience to Japan's pro-whaling
policy at a signing ceremony for a US $10 million fisheries complex to be
built by Japan in East Basseterre. With Japanese ambassador Yoshio Yamagishi
at his side, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas stated to the press that, "The
view of the government at the moment is that we will continue to support
whaling in our area. The project is in fact the fulfillment of a longstanding
relationship between the Government of Japan and St. Kitts and Nevis."

In 2000, the Government of Dominica was thrown into crisis when the Minister
of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, Atherton Martin, resigned in protest
over the decision by Prime Minister Roosevelt Douglas to override a Cabinet
decision to abstain on the IWC vote on creating a South Pacific whale sanctuary.

"They (Japan) announced that if they couldn't get Dominica to come
along with them, they would have to place Dominican projects under review," Martin
stated on BBC's Newsnight program. "If that is not extortion by the
Japanese government, I don't know what it is. They are saying 'You either
go with us or we pull the aid.'

"One can look at the years in which Japanese aid began to flow. In
our case, the fisheries complex goes back six or seven years. It was at that
time the pattern of voting of Dominica began to be almost 100% in sync with
the wishes of the Japanese," explained Martin.

Martin's letter of resignation from his ministerial post explicitly described
Japan's vote-buying strategy: "Today I submitted my resignation as Minister
of Government to the Prime Minister. I am alarmed that the Japanese
seem to be using the SAME promise of aid that held the James Administration
ransom to manipulate this Government's voting at the IWC. This is undignified
and unacceptable and must be resisted. There is absolutely no reason for
us to be held ransom by Japan in return for promises of aid."

The Times (London) reported on 14 August 2000 that, "Mr. Martin said
Japanese officials had visited the Prime Minister and had threatened to withdraw
aid for a new fisheries complex if Dominica abstained on the critical sanctuary
issue. Japan had given Dominica, which has a population of 70,000, about
4.5 million pounds for fisheries facilities since joining the IWC, and Japan
paid its registration fees at the commission, he said. He said five other
islands - Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis -
had also 'succumbed to the same extortionary tactics of Japan. They (also)
actually buy off with cash the chief fisheries advisers to the governments,
and fly them to Japan throughout the year.' "

The U.K.'s Observer newspaper reported in a 13 May 2001 story ("Save
the Whales? Not if Japan's Bribes Pay Off"): "Japan also pays Dominica's
45,000 pounds annual IWC membership fee. Japan denies it, but a Dominican
Minister confirmed: 'Put it like this, we make no allocation for it in our
national budget.' "

"Martin said the Japanese threat was explicit: 'They make it clear,
that if you don't vote for them, they will have to reconsider the aid. They
use money crudely to buy influence,' " the Observer continued.

"At the IWC meetings, Japan follows through its tactics by chaperoning
the island's officials. 'They do not allow them free for a moment--not even
at cocktail parties. It's disgusting, it's appalling. It's beyond colonial,'
said Martin. During the meetings, the Japanese pass notes to the Caribbean
officials, and prompt them to speak."

Martin, the former Environment and Fisheries Minister of Dominica, commented
to the Observer that, "Small nations are enormously vulnerable to offers
of aid. Through extortion with aid, Japan has been able to get many island
nations to join the International Whaling Commission and vote its way."

Daven Joseph, until recently Antigua's commissioner to the IWC, paid a visit
to Dominica in May 2001 to help Japan pressure that government. According
to an Associated Press story ("Dominica's Leader Under Pressure to Reject
Whale Sanctuary"), Joseph warned that "Dominica will lose an opportunity
for development if you go there and vote for that sanctuary or sit on the
fence."

The CANA News Agency reported ("Dominica: Local Lobby Opposes South
Pacific Whale Sanctuary") that, "Antigua and Barbuda's IWC Commissioner,
Daven Joseph, said it was right for Dominica to support Japan on the sustainable
use of natural resources. He said Antigua has been benefiting since 1996
from major Japan-funded projects, including a fisheries complex and a bus
terminal. However, he claimed that Dominica's problem in receiving Japanese
aid stemmed from the wavering position of successive governments."

Daven Joseph lost his parliamentary seat, his IWC commissionership and his
ambassadorship to Japan in March when the people of Antigua and Barbuda rose
up and voted out of office the notoriously corrupt government run by the
Bird family for three decades. The new prime minister, Baldwin Spencer, has
hired an leading international forensic accountant, Citigate, to track down
the tens of millions of dollars that disappeared from government coffers
during the Bird regime. Accounting for all the Japanese "fisheries aid" should
be quite revealing.

IWC Meeting Crippled by Vote-Buying Scandal

More than six hours of the commission's valuable time has been consumed
over the past three days by rancorous debates behind closed doors as the
commissioners from Japan and Caribbean countries beat their breasts and raised
their voices over growing charges of vote-buying and vote-selling.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is the target of the pro-whaling
forces. On Monday, IFAW issued a press release with the title, "Statement
on Vote Buying and the IWC." It was distributed at a press conference
and in the press room at the Sorrento Hilton. The pro-whalers are demanding
that IFAW be ejected from the IWC meeting.

The IFAW press release stated that, "Despite the strong legal, ethical,
political environmental and other concerns and objections that have been
raised, for years, against the Japanese practice of vote buying at the International
Whaling Commission, an unmoved Japan perseveres in taking advantage of the
poverty and need of the smallest countries in the international community
to get, with money, what it cannot obtain with the force of sound legal arguments
and with the support of the best available scientific data and evidence."

After two lengthy special commissioners' meetings Monday and Tuesday,
the commission served a demand letter upon IFAW Wednesday morning stating: "This
document specifically contained the statement that 'Japanese practice of
vote buying at the International Whaling Commission' which without substantiation
has been found to be offensive and unacceptable particularly from a non-governmental
organization that has been granted observer status at the meeting of the
IWC. This was not an IWC recognized document."

The letter stated that commissioners "decided that the Acting Chairman
and Acting Vice-Chairman should request IFAW to provide the factual basis
for its allegation referred to above, and further information concerning
the purpose of the document, it use and its distribution in order that
Commissioners can determine what, if any, further action they may wish
to take on this matter."

IFAW president Fred O'Regan responded Wednesday with a letter to the commission
stating: "As we stated in our meeting yesterday we are eager to engage
in an open and transparent discussion on the issue of vote buying. However
to clarify matters we again respectively request what, if any, infractions
are being alleged and what process and procedure is intended. We believe
that this is the fair minimum that should be granted to any organization
about whom there is an allegation."

Despite the exchange of letters, Japan and its client states demanded yet
another special commissioner's meeting Wednesday afternoon, further delaying
the commission's regular business by two hours.

In a lengthy story Tuesday about the crisis ("Vote Row Overshadows
Whaling Meeting"), Agence France Presse reported: "From outside
the meeting, some commissioners were heard to say they were 'deeply insulted'
by the allegations. They pressed the IWC chief to expel IFAW."

" 'It's going to get very, very unpleasant. It will consist of Japan
and the Caribbean states ranting on about an honest document outlining the
facts,' an official from an anti-whaling southern hemisphere state told AFP."

In an attempt to placate the pro-whaling states, the Commission will reportedly
announce the formation of a new working group to address rules of conduct
for NGOs. Several member nations will be appointed to the working group,
which will meet over the next year and report to the 2005 annual meeting.

Whether the IWC will tackle the issue that caused this crisis--Japan's use
of aid to purchase memberships and votes at the IWC--remains unanswered.

In spite of this bitter attack on free speech, conservation, environmental,
and animal welfare groups will doubtlessly continue to expose the corruption
of the IWC's integrity.

Aussie Enviro Minister: Whaling Must End

According to press reports, Ian Campbell, the Federal Environmental Minister
of Australia, has accused Japan and Iceland of slaughtering whales in the
name of bad science.

"Killing whales in the name of science is an affront to science," Campbell
told Reuters on Wednesday. "It is not science--it is commercial slaughter."

Campbell noted that under the guise of "science", 850 whales would
be killed next year, if Japan and Iceland follow through with their stated
plans. Australia closed down its own whaling industry 25 years ago, after
a unique federal review of whaling conducted by a judge, who recommended
an end to whaling.

Campbell urged Japan and Iceland to abandon the killing of whales for so-called "science."

Victory for Whale Welfare as IWC Addresses "Inadequate" Safeguards

Despite opposition from Japan and Norway and their puppet countries, the
IWC expressed concern on Wednesday that current whaling methods do not guarantee
death of whales without pain, stress or distress. Environmental and animal
welfare groups have charged for years that whaling is inherently cruel and
should be stopped.

IWC will reconvene the Working Group on Whale Killing Methods and Associated
Welfare Issues next year to address the issues of cruelty in whaling.

The IWC recognized in the majority resolution that the means for determining
whether whales were dead before butchering are "inadequate."

Too Many Dall's Die

Japanese coastal fishermen continue to kill thousands of Dall's porpoises
and other species off the coast of Japan annually. It is estimated that 30,000
Dall's have been harpooned each year since 2002.

While IWC reports from the Scientific Committee indicate 11,000 to 18,000
porpoises died on average from 1997 to 2001, the Committee notes these figures
do not include struck-and-lost statistics, indicating the overall kill is
much higher.

Andy Ottaway of Campaign Whale notes that not only has Japan refused to
suspend the hunt pending assessment of the status of the Dall's porpoise
stocks off Japan, but the government refused to supply up-to-date figures
on the numbers being killed to the IWC Scientific Committee.

Is the IWC RMS DOA?

The IWC continued discussion all day Tuesday on the proposed RMS (Revised
Management Scheme). The IWC's absent Chairman had prepared a new proposal
for resolution of existing questions.

However, environmental leaders were quick to object to the proposal from
a number of standpoints. The Chair's proposal would allow nations to quit
the IWC and then rejoin while taking a reservation against the RMS, effectively
allowing whaling without any IWC restrictions. Most environmentalists insist
that non-whaling nations not subsidize whaling nations by requiring their
funding for the RMS.

The Chair also recommended the moratorium on commercial whaling be lifted
immediately upon approval of the RMS, a recipe for slip-shod implementation.
Furthermore, the RMS proposal wrongly suggests that the current ban on international
trade in whale products is counter to the World Trade Organization.

"Unless members insist the IWC addresses welfare issues, they're engaging
in a process that will ensure that whales continue to die agonizing and inhumane
deaths," added Andy Ottaway of Campaign Whale, part of the Whalewatch
Coalition.

Divers Boycott Palau

The website for scuba divers, Cyber Divers News Network, is urging a boycott
of Palau because "while Palau deliberately and methodically promotes
itself as an eco-friendly dive destination committed to the protection of
marine wildlife, including dugongs, dolphins and whales, behind the scenes
it colludes with Japan to block the establishment of whale sanctuaries and
reverse the ban on commercial whaling."

Divers are urged to sign an online letter to Palau stating that they refuse
to visit the country as long as Palau continues to support the pro-whaling
position in the IWC. Palau is world-renowned as a dive location; tourism
could be seriously hurt by a boycott from divers.